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TMZ thinks this Android phone is the iPhone 6
TMZ is super, super proud of its "exclusive" scoop on the iPhone 6 today, as is clear by its obnoxious headline and loaded article that tells the story of a former Foxconn employee heroically smuggling the highly anticipated device out from manufacturing. As you'd expect from TMZ, there are plenty of grainy photos to go along with this. The only problem is that they don't have photos of an iPhone 6. It's an Android phone. First, let's tackle a couple of the images of the supposed Apple gadget and do some sleuthing. We'll start with this: I see a "lock" button that's been moved to the side of the device. Fair enough, given the larger size. But what's with the SIM Card door? It's not even flush with the phone's frame. That, alone, is a dead giveaway that it wasn't built from an Apple design. Apple doesn't design something that doesn't fit together, and we're reminded of that literally every single time it releases a new device. Next, we'll check out the front: Again we see that the SIM door is wildly misfitting, but look at the screen itself. Five icon rows on the new 4.7-inch display? That doesn't seem right, especially considering that's essentially a stock screenshot from iOS 7. But what's even more telling is the date icon. Do you see that "13"? That isn't the font that Apple uses for the date icon, it's far too thick. If you shift your attention to the lettering used for each icon you'll see that they have drop shadows which, again, aren't present in either iOS 7 or iOS 8. What we have here is an Android phone dressed up in an iPhone exterior, running a heavily modified version of Android 4.2.2. I know this because a Redditor posted images of a remarkably similar device -- complete with the iPhone 6 box seen in the TMZ images, and running on Android -- which was purchased by a Chinese knockoff seller: Look familiar? Oh, and by the way: Welcome, TMZ, to the world of Apple rumors. Next time, bring your 'A' game.
Twitter brings expanded news tweets to the web, makes skimming articles all too easy (update: Lytro too)
While Twitter has had expanded tweets for photos and videos, it's been necessary to click through to full news articles to see any of their content, sometimes even for the headline. A newly-launched update to the desktop and mobile web versions of Twitter is making that at-a-glance reading easier. Major traditional outlets like the New York Times, Der Spiegel or Time now show a brief snippet of an article when the linking tweet is given a click. More Internet-focused sources such as BuzzFeed and TMZ are also in the batch, and videos from the likes of BET and Dailymotion will play in-line. Android and iPhone users will see the same expansion from their native apps in the near future, although we're already weeping quietly for attention spans everywhere. Update: If you're craving shots taken with a Lytro camera, the company has revealed that its interactive, infinite-focus photos are included in the expanded tweet collection.
Scandalous! Buzz and Sackboy romantic rendezvous in Vienna!
It looks like some romance may be happening at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Two popular PlayStation mascots were seen on a date in Vienna. In this shocking video (after the break), you'll see Sackboy and Buzz shamelessly holding hands, eating lunch together, and riding the wiener risenrad. We're disgusted by Buzz's actions here. Yes, Sackboy is adorable -- but he's only one year old. Just because you're a video game celebrity doesn't mean you can get away with this kind of sickening pedophilia. [Via @Media_Molecule; design inspired by TMZ.com]
WoW Insider is taking over the world
Reader Andy wrote in this morning to tell us about what he read while having his morning cup of joe. From the The Guardian's article on The world's 50 most powerful blogs: "46. WoW Insider"Ummm... really? Cool!While I consider us to be a major source of news, information, and QQness about World of Warcraft related things, I never really thought that we'd ever be included on a list like this. It's kind of nice. So who did we beat? And who beat us?
